[Advaita-l] maheshwara sUtrAs and shAkta vidya

[Venkata sriram P]

Namaste,
 
Long back, I wrote an article on Maheshwara Sutras  and
the summary of kAsika by Nandikeshwara.  The kAsika presented 
here is the abridged form and I have omitted the “tattva darshini”.  

 
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The Nataraja in Chidambaram or Tillaivanam performs the 
Tandava dance before Patanjali, Vyaghrapada, Sanaka, Sanandana 
and other sages. At the close of the dance, Nataraja produces 
14 sounds with his Damaruka. From these 14 sounds,
emanated 14 Sutras and 14 branches of vedic learning. The fourteen 
sounds produced by Nataraja’s drum are the means by which the Reality of 
Siva is to be known and experienced within us. The sages obtained the 
inner vision to see this Great Cosmic dance of Siva. At the end, 
everyone were in the ocean of Bliss Absolute. Among those present at 
Nataraja’s dance was Panini. For him these 14 sounds meant the 
fourteen cardinal sutras of Grammer and on them he
based his “Ashtadhyayi”. The Nataraja was the Sabda-Brahma Incarnate 
and at the conclusion of his Tandava, these series of fourteen letters 
emanated:

1) a i un 2) r l k 3) e on 4) ai au c 5) ha ya va ra t 6) la n 7) jna ma gna
Nna na m 8) jha bha n 9) gha dad ha s 10) ja ba ga da da s 
11) kha pha cha that ha ca ta ta v 12) ka pa y 13) sa sa sar 14) ha l

All the 16 vowels (a, Aa, i, Ii, u, Uu, ri, rii, lri, lrii, e, ai, o au, am, ah) fall under 
the a-ch sUtra and all the consonants (ka,kha,…..ha) fall under the sUtra “ha-l”. 
 
Nandikeswara and Upamanyu have written commentaries upon these 14 sutras. The
following is the summary.  Upamanyu's is omitted here.


The initial letter ‘a’ in the vowel represents PRAKASA - SIVA and the final
‘ha’ in the consonant represent VIMARSA - SAKTI. Both these letters combined
become Siva-Sakti Principle which is otherwise called “AHAM”. 

1st Sutra: a i un 

Nirguna Parabrahma who is Siva is denoted by first letter ‘a’. The Sakti in
the form of Chit Kala is denoted by ‘i’ in this sutra. This is the medium or
upadhi. Siva (a) with Sakti (i) as upadhi gets manifested as Saguna Brahma (u).
This saguna brahma (u) gets transformed into Jagat (n).

Here ‘a’ is non-objective bliss – Siva tattva; ‘i’ is the Kamakala – Sakti
tattva; ‘u’ is Ishwara tattva

2nd Sutra: r l k

‘r’ is Sarveshwara tattva; ‘l’ is Maya tattva; ‘k’ is Jagat that is being
perceived.

The Siva (a) with Sakti (i) gets manifested as r, l, k

3rd Sutra: e on

e is the product of a and i ie., Para siva and Sakti. O is the product of a
and u. This imply that Para Siva with Chit as Upadhi got manifested as Jagat
and became Ishwara Tattva.

4th Sutra: ai au c

Para Siva (a) with his Sakti (e) and His Will (i) becoming Paramaatma (o) has
become (c) the Consciousness or Jnana Swarupa (u).

Entire vowels of 16 in numbers are in between these 4 sutras. Vowels are also
called ‘a-ch’ and consonants are called ‘hal’. From the 1st sutra, ‘a’ is taken
out and from the 4th sutra, c is taken out. They become ‘ach’. These are 16
vowels.

5th Sutra : ha ya va ra t

6th Sutra: la n

>From the 5th and 6th sutras, pancha bhutas (5 gross elements) have originated.
Ha is akasa, ya is vaayu, va is jala, ra is agni, la is prithvi. Pancha Bhuta
Bija Mantras (lam, ham, yam, ram, vam) have originated from these varnas. ‘la’
which is prithvi is the basis of all the beings. From this ’la’ originated
medicinal plants and food. Food becomes ‘sukra’ among males and ‘sonita’ among
females. From sukra-sonita, jiva has evolved. Thus, Parama Siva (a) with Sakti
(i) becomes 5 gross elements and Jiva tattva.

7th Sutra: jna ma gna Nna na m

jna, ma, gna, Nna, na becomes pancha tanmaatraas. They are Touch, Taste,
Sound, Form and Smell respectively.

8th Sutra: jha bha n

Jha : Organs of Speech (vak); bha : Hands

9th Sutra: gha dad ha s

gha : Feet; da : paayu; dha : Upastha.

Thus, Para Siva (a) with Sakti (i) becomes Organs of Action.

10th Sutra: ja ba ga da da s

Ja : skin; ba : tongue; ga: ears; da : eyes; da : nose

Thus, para siva (a) with sakti (i) becomes Organs of Knowledge

11th Sutra: kha pha cha that ha ca ta ta v

Kha is prana; pha is apana; cha is vyana; tha is udana, tha is samana, ca is
manas, ta is buddhi and ta is ahamkara respectively.

Thus, Para Siva and Sakti become Vital Airs and Antah Karana.



12th Sutra: ka pa y

Ka denotes Prakriti and Pa denotes Purusha.

Thus, Para Siva (a) with Sakti (i) becomes Prakriti (ka) and Purusha (pa).

13th Sutra: sa sa sar

Parasiva (a) with Chit Kala / Sakti (i) through Rajo Guna (sa), Tamo Guna
(sha) and Sattva Guna (sa) as Medium is performing Creation, Preservation and
Destruction.

14th Sutra: ha l

‘ha l’ is the essence of all principles that transcends everything in the
cosmos and is untouched by the senses (a-sparsha tattva) and is the
Consciousness in the form of ‘AHAM” or “I”.

>From the 5th sutra till the 14th sutras, entire 34 consonants are in between.

By sounding the drum 14 times and evolving these 14 sutras, the Nataraja
disappears in the Chit Sabha at Tillaivanam.

The entire 36 principles of creation that Srividya speaks of can be correlated
with these 14 Siva Sutras. 50 Matrikas (16 vowels + 34 Consonants) have
originated from the 14 siva sutras. And hence, entire cosmos is in the form of
these 14 sutras.

With regards,
Sriram